Tell us about your award-winning web series, “Awkwardly.”
A: Awkwardly is a twenty-episode web series created, written, and produced by the wildly talented Nikki Coble. It’s a chain of connection series about living in New York City and how life’s awkward moments connect us all. It was so much fun to work on and is such a joy to watch. Nikki wrote a wonderfully hilarious role for me which was so great to step into amid working on several other projects that were heavily dramatic. The series had a great run on the festival circuit and won multiple, well-deserved awards.
You have worked on twenty independent films and two pilots as a producer and during the 2020 pandemic, working with an award-winning team on four independent films produced completely in isolation. What are you most proud of?
A: I’m proud of every single project. Regardless of circumstances or outcome, they were all incredible learning experiences. I have been fortunate to work with and learn from some unbelievably talented people, all of whom have shaped my career and helped pave my way both as an actress and a producer, and creating films in quarantine was a truly unique and rewarding experience. It was so fascinating to approach filmmaking in a completely different way and see how far we could go to produce fully realized films with entire teams of people working in isolation. So, I thank the inimitable Jeremiah Kipp for his vision and for bringing me into this talented network of artists. It was incredible to be a part of that type of innovation and also to have a creative outlet in the midst of such an uncertain time.
You won Best Actress for “The Red Lotus.” Tell us about your role. Can you share a moment on the set?
A: This was a really wonderful experience for so many reasons. It was a challenge to create a role around circumstances that were completely foreign to me, but our incredible director, Jessica Green, had my back and was instrumental in helping me to fully build and encapsulate this woman’s story. So, it was really an honor to be recognized with an award and I am so grateful for it. Being on set for this film was spectacular and it marked so many firsts for me. It was my first lead role and my first time traveling to shoot on location. It felt like a dream. We shot a good portion of the film in a yoga retreat lodge located out in the woods near coastal Connecticut. The best part was that we all stayed in the lodge together for the duration of the shoot, side by side in rollout beds. We were like kids in camp and it was so much fun.
You have several upcoming projects. “Puppet Seizure” and “Giant Support” are due to be out this year and “From Venus With Love,” next year. Tell us about these projects.
A: Puppet Seizure and Giant Support will both be out in the world soon! I was a producer on both and also an actor in Giant Support. Puppet Seizure is a wonderfully heartfelt comedy about an aspiring musician that arrives home with a producer she’s trying to impress when her family interrupts with plans of their own. It was written, directed by, and stars actress and singer-songwriter, Merissa Morin and is a hilarious peek into the world of puppetry. Giant Support is an off the wall comedy about a support group for tall people that helps them cope with being too big for a normal-sized world. Working on this was an absolute blast. This entire team was amazing and it was one of the best times I’ve ever had on set. “From Venus With Love” is in development and I am eagerly awaiting heading into production for this film. It’s a lighthearted mystery set in New York City in 1967. I play a mysterious cult leader pursued by a down on her luck detective against the backdrop of the Summer of Love and the beginning of the Women’s Movement. It’s a fantastic script written by Gillien Goll and has an incredible team of women attached to it.
What is next for you?
A: I’ve been cast in a fantastic horror anthology series from Theatre of Terror that is going into production later this year and From Venus With Love will film in the spring and summer of next year!
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